Barn Electric

I dug a trench for the electric line to the new barn and have the electric panel installed. Will be used for lights and for power to the electric fence wires. When we built the fence, we put two electric wires, one about 6" from the ground and the other at about 3' off the ground. These are on the outside where the alpacas won't be able to reach but will hopefully help with any predator that might try to get inside.

Rainbow over the Alpaca Barn

Couldn't resist sharing this picture of a rainbow off in the distance towards the town of Romney.

Alpaca Shearing

We spent a couple of days in April, 2012 at the local farm where we bought our alpacas. Terrie, at Bear Garden Farms, invites all the owners of the alpacas that are being boarded (agisted) at their farm or potential owners to help for the two days. There were over 120 alpacas sheared and it's quite the process. Everyone is assigned a job and the shearers are kept busy. Key to progress is keeping a fresh alpaca on the mat for the shearers so they are maximizing their production. The shearer, Matt Best, came in from New England and makes his rounds to multiple farms throughout the spring and summer.

Alpacas are usually sheared in the spring in this area of the country, this gives them some relief from the heat over the summer but gives the fleece time to grow back in for protection from the cold in the winter. The pictures show one of our alpacas, his name is Tuxedo, being sheared. What a difference once he's done!

Here is the fleece from Tuxedo on a skirting table at home. This is when the fiber is sorted and bits of dirt and vegetable manner are pulled out. The next picture is some of the fiber after it has been run through a carding machine and formed in to a batt. This aligns the fibers all in one direction to get it ready to be spun on the wheel in to yarn. The last picture shows some of the yarn that we're spinning on our spinning wheels.

Alpaca Barn Construction Continues

More pictures of the alpaca barn being built. First few show the framing that was added for the roof and walls, then the roofing and siding.

Alpaca Shed Started

These are pictures of the metal pipe framing that we're using for the alpacas run in shed. We bought the frames from Klene Pipe and they have worked out very well, we bought two sets, one to use in the pasture and a second that we'll use for a shed to put all our outdoor equipment like tractors and back hoes in for storage. The frames will be finished using board and batten siding to match the other buildings.

Pasture Fencing Progress

Here are some pictures of the work going on to put in the fences for the alpacas. Hill top is mostly shale so post hole digging is very slow, even with the backhoe mounted digger. Sometimes we hit a large rock that prevents the hole from being dug but was able to get them in place. For a few of the holes that weren't deep enough, we just adding a bag of ready mix concrete as part of the back fill.

Alpaca Progress

Apologies to all who were following our blog for not keeping up! It's been over a year since I posted, where has the time gone. Will try to add a few posts to catch up.